Chapter Two "Science Expedition"

"So, this is the Dungeon," Shirou muttered as he breathed the air and took his first steps into the 1st Floor.

The mana concentration in the air surprised Shirou. He had read about it but Shirou had thought the supposed mana concentration had been exaggerated. In fact, the concentration of mana was much more than he had seen in the books produced by dungeon researchers. Now that he was experiencing it for himself there was no doubt in his mind that several leylines congregated into the Dungeon to form a leyline nexus. If the mana was anything to go by he could understand why the dungeon monsters were several times stronger than those born on the surface. Mana was like food to monsters. The more mana the greater their physical and magical prowess compared to say monsters on the surface where mana was less concentrated.

"What floor should we start on?" Lili asked happily as she bounced around with her new carrying setup.

"We shall start on this floor as a warmup before we head deeper." Shirou replied. "Before we proceed with today's hunt let's get a few things straightened out. Besides your regular duties as a Supporter of scavenging and carrying the loot, are you able defend yourself or help me out?"

"I have these two weapons."

Lili took out two objects to show to Shirou. There was long dagger with a twenty centimeter long blade. From what Shirou could learn from reading the dagger's history there was nothing really special about it as Lili often used it for cutting things and a last ditch weapon when an enemy came to close to her. The second object Lili showed caught his attention. It was a weapon that Lili had used for a long time and take care of very well. Little Ballista was its name and created by the Goibniu Familia specifically for Pallums (the species that Lili belonged to). As the name suggested, Little Ballista was exactly that something that could be said to be; a miniaturized ballista small enough to be mounted on a person's wrist.

She continued, "I can provide some help with Little Ballista from a distance but If I shoot too often then I will draw the monsters' attention to me."

"Okay," Shirou nodded. "I hired you to act as a Supporter. If I needed help fighting than I would had another adventurer join us. You should help me out only when absolutely necessary."

"Understood."

The first dungeon monsters that Shirou ever encountered appeared. They were very familiar to him. He had seen them many times back on Earth. Regarded as one of the weakest monsters due to their childlike size and intelligence. Goblins.

Two swords materialized in his hands. They were nowhere near in quality to his preferred Kanshou and Bakuya but it had to do. He currently couldn't Trace any Noble Phantasms yet as his recent ascension into a Divine Spirit had many of his skills turned into divine powers. Only when he had a better mastery of his new divine powers could he use Tracing without it counting as using divine powers.

Note to self: NEVER EVER use divine powers in the dungeon. Shirou reminded himself as he recalled the numerous gods that had perished and barely escaped with their lives when they had thought they could conquer the dungeon with their divine powers.

Shirou dashed towards the goblins. The goblins attempted to intercept Shirou but it was futile. He passed through them while striking with his two blades. When he turned around, the goblins fell onto the ground leaking blood.

The fact that the goblins were dead greatly pleased Shirou. While the goblins might have appeared the same as he had fought on Earth, there was no telling if goblins in the new world he found himself was exactly the same. He had struck at weak points that Shirou knew Earth goblins possessed and it seemed like the dungeon goblins were either the same species or incredibly closely related to share the same weak points as their Earth counterparts.

He inspected himself. There were no injuries and if there were that meant his skills had gotten rusty. It seemed that despite some time since Shirou had real combat outside of sparring that he had as a god in Tenkai he was as sharp as ever. Shirou sighed. It was a completely different story for his body. His current physical abilities were a far cry from before his death or his time in Tenkai as a god. There was a very long way to go if he wanted regain his old physical prowess without being restricted by the limits placed on gods while on Genkai.

More goblins appeared in his sights. Shirou smiled and launched himself at the newcomers. He was eager to test out his currently restricted self and the Falna system.

- O -

"Wow…" Lili muttered in amazement as she stared at numerous corpses left in Shirou's wake.

The Supporter was having a hard time believing that the one person was responsible for all the monster corpses. While they might be on the first floor in the dungeon and the monsters were amongst the weakest in the Dungeon, Shirou was clearly a Level 1 Adventurer from what Lili saw. It was not just the number of corpses that shocked Lili the most. Many of the monsters looked relatively untouched besides the fatal wounds that had killed them.

It was like Shirou was trying to preserve as much of the monster corpse intact as possible. Lili noted with interest.

Shirou was clearly very skilled and experienced despite being a Level 1 Adventurer. The fact that how Shirou hadn't been injured one bit despite slaughters tens of monsters in short succession. The fact that he had killed a monster with a single hit on average without damaging the monster corpse was another testament of his skill.

She wondered how Shirou was still a Level 1 when he was such a skilled and experienced adventurer.

A rumor that many Adventurers and Supporters had heard popped into Lili's mind. While many aspects of the rumor was debated, many agreed several parts about the rumor. That there was a special training method for high leveled adventurers. How it was invented, it worked or what the special training method was unknown. Many believed the special training method was Stat enhancing or skill polishing. Either objectives of the special training method was rumored to involve high leveled adventurers somehow lowering their levels through unknown means. Lili got the feeling the rumors were true and Shirou might be an example of the rumored high leveled adventurers on a special training regime to increase their stats or skills.

"Are you okay, Lili?" Shirou asked.

"Argh!" Lili screamed in surprise as she found Shirou standing in front of her. "How long have you been there?!"

"I just got here," said Shirou. "Are you okay? You have been standing there and staring into the distance for a while?"

"I was just shocked by your abilities." Lili replied honestly. She remembered how Shirou seemed unfamiliar with the dungeon and the questions he had asked as they had traveled to the first floor of the dungeon. "How come you are so skilled and experienced when you hardly seem to know anything about the Orario Dungeon?"

"Umm…" Shirou scratched his head. "You could say that I have only read and heard about Orario's Dungeon. All of my skills and experience comes from hunting monsters outside of Orario."

Lili scrutinized Shirou. She got the feeling that Shirou was telling the truth. Yet, she also got the feeling that she was being deceived somehow. Her mind quickly suppressed any thoughts about why she was being deceived when Lili realized that Shirou had no ill intent and likely just wanted to keep something a secret.

"Why are you trying to keep the monster corpses intact as possible?" Lili asked.

"How familiar are you with the biology of monsters?" Shirou responded with a question of his own.

"Not much." Lili shook her head. "I only know what other adventurers and supporters do; to injure and kill monsters or extract the magic stones inside monsters."

"I should have expected this." Shirou sighed.

"I'm sorry for being so useless! Please don't throw me away. I promise to worker harder and take a reduced pay."

"What, no! I didn't mean it in that way and I would never do such a thing. You don't have to worry about having to work harder for less pay." Shirou shouted as he heard Lili's response.

"Really?" Lili asked timidly.

She didn't really believe Shirou. He seemed to genuinely to care about her and the type not to abuse others but her experience told her otherwise. Lili had seen just about every kind of scum to exist in her years of experience as a Supporter. She wouldn't be surprised if Shirou turned out to the worst kind of people that Lili detested: the ones that pretended to be kind and caring when their true nature was the complete opposite.

"You, poor girl… I cannot imagine what you had to through to be so mistrustful of others." Shirou said in saddened tone as he embraced Lili in a hug. "Here take these…"

"This…" Lili's eyes widened. "Why are you giving me this?"

"I hope this change your mind about me. If it instead makes you more suspicious of me I will not be offended if you take what I just gave you and leave but I ask you that you give me a chance to prove you wrong." Shirou replied in a gentle tone.

Lili stared down at the gear that Shirou had materialized on the ground. Adventurers that were higher than Level 3 might find the offered gear as trash but for Level 1s like herself it was gold. No, Lili shook her head. The offered gear was more precious than gold. It was as if they were designed specifically for her small stature and body shape. What was the most valuable aspect was that the gear was light so that her ability to move and carry wasn't burdened by more weight.

"I don't deserve this treatment…" Lili started to cry at how highly Shirou valued her to offer such precious and tailored gear to her.

"Take it," said Shirou as he pushed the gear into Lili's hands. "Think of this as an investment. I need someone who is hardworking and experienced as you."

"You don't need me though… The magical pouches that can carry more than their appearance renders the purpose of Supporters as useless."

"Lili, where I come from Supporters are not those that just carry items," said Shirou as he remembered his time as a Chaldean Master. "There are of course Supporters that help in non-combat roles such scavenging, cooking and many other overlooked duties not related to fighting. Some Supporters also help directly in combat such as healers to those that buff their allies and debuff their enemies."

"Buff their allies and debuff their enemies?" Lili repeated in confusion.

"Ahem." Shirou coughed. "Buffing and Debuffing are skills or magic that strengthen and weaken respectively. Anyway… The most important thing is that I find that someone worth investing in."

Lili started to cry. She had rarely found anyone that had been so kind to her as Shirou. Those that had been kind to her past disappeared from her life after members of her Familia or adventurers that used her paid those that had been kind to her a visit. What made her like Shirou even more was that it was unlikely that anyone from her Familia or those who used her would be able to drive Shirou away as he was individually and the Familia he belonged too powerful to threaten.

"Lili are you okay? If you don't feel well enough to continue why don't we call it a day." Shirou said in a concerned tone.

Any thoughts of scheming against Shirou disappeared despite the fact that he was an adventurer that she despised so much. He genuinely cared her. Lili now wanted Shirou as a partner. A comrade into the dungeon to make money.

"I'm okay," said Lili as she wiped away her tears. "No one has been so kind and caring about a Supporter as you." She looked at Shirou in the eye. "Since you trust me so much and value me enough to invest in me I want to live up to those expectations."

"Try on the gear," said Shirou as he materialized thick white sheets that blocked Lili from his sight. He turned his back to Lili to give her another layer of privacy and said, "I will give you some time."

Lili was grateful for the sheets that Shirou had provided to ensure her privacy when she changed. She stripped down to her underclothes and donned on the new gear. The girl made sure everything was straightened and presentable before she pulled the sheets aside.

"I am done, Shirou-sama. You can look now."

"How are the new gear I provided to you?" Shirou asked as he turned around to look at Lili.

"I love it!" Lili shouted as she twirled around to show his gifts to him.

Lili looked like those rare adventurer/supporter hybrids with her new armor and carrying setup. Her torso was given the most amount of protection with strong metal armor while the rest of her body was protected by thin and durable leather to not burden Lili with unnecessary weight or hamper her movement. She carried a bag suitable for her size and additional pouches attached to her torso, waist and thighs

"That is good to hear," said Shirou with a smile. "The gear I provided was for your own self-protection. It is by no means me asking you to join me on the frontlines as another adventurer."

"Understood," Lili nodded. "I want to do more than just scavenge and carry. What kind of Supporter do you think best suits me, Shirou-sama?"

"That's hard to say," said Shirou as he inspected Lili. "I haven't been with you long enough to learn where your potential lays or what kind of Supporter best suits you. How about this? I will give you my advice to what I think is the best Supporter role you should take later after observing you a bit longer."

"Okay!" Lili smiled.

"Help me put the monster corpses away," said Shirou as he took a pouch from his belt and reached for the nearest monster corpse. "We will proceed to the next floor after this."

"Understood," Lili nodded as she got to work on the closest monster corpse. "I might not be an expert in monster biology but I know enough about the monsters on the first floor not worth the time and effort to collect their corpses. You will make more money of killing more monsters for their magic stones."

"I'm not doing this for the money. These monster corpses are for my own research. I want to know if the monsters in the dungeon are different from the ones I know." Shirou explained.

"Eh? Ain't all monsters the same whether or not in the dungeon or surface? I heard that there was only a difference in strength, the surface being weaker than their dungeon counterparts."

"Who knows? I will find out for myself after dissecting the monsters." Shirou replied.

It was not long before Shirou and Lili finished collecting the monster corpses and safely stored away. They made their way to the next floor to hunt more monsters.

- O -

"Are you sure you need this many monster corpses? This seems a little too much." Lili asked as she stared at the mountain that Shirou and she had built after the massacre Shirou had created on the 2nd Floor.

"No. In fact, the more monster corpses the better it is for me. More monster corpses mean more dissections and data." Shirou replied as he stuffed a monster corpse into a magic pouch.

"Are you a researcher of monster biology?" Lili inquired as she too joined in storing away the monster corpses.

"Something like that… I am investigating a hypothesis of mine about dungeon monsters."

"Is this hypothesis not the same as other monster researchers? If it is I don't understand you don't read more books or debate with your fellow researchers." Lili asked curiously.

"I prefer to see the results with my own eyes. It is the reason for what why I am down here hunting the monsters and collect their corpses for dissection. You don't have to worry about not getting paid. I can pay in cash or in items." Shirou replied.

Lili's eyes widened at what she heard and she quickly shouted, "No, no! I have received more than enough from you for one day's work. I will have to work for you for several months to pay you back!"

"Lili," said Shirou as he stared at the supporter, "that is not your pay. I will pay you the money for your services. The gear I gave you was an investment. I see you possessing great future ahead of you."

"But…" Lili protested but she hesitated about talking further when she saw Shirou's disapproving look. "Okay, Shirou-sama… I hope that I live up to your expectation!"

"There," Shirou smiled, "let's not have another repeat of this topic okay? I am getting tired of having this topic. Just work harder if you feel guilty."

"Understood," Lili nodded in fear at Shirou's not-so-happy smile.

Shirou's smile turned into a friendly one as he focused on reducing the mountain of one corpse at a time. As he continued storing, Shirou replayed his memory of fighting the monsters on the 1st and 2nd Floor of the Orario Dungeon. Every single monster he had fought looked and behaved exactly the same as their Earth counterparts. If their appearance and behavior wasn't enough their biology likely had to be the same given that they shared the same weak points as Earth's monsters.

The monsters being the same to their Earth counterpart was just another piece of evidence to the long list of growing similarities that Genkai had with Earth. Shirou had a strong suspicion that Genkai might be a parallel world to Earth, whose history had splintered off from Earth's during what was considered as Earth's Age of Gods.

How Tenkai fit into the mix, Shirou only had some unconfirmed guesses. The strongest theory he had was that Tenkai was related to Earth's Reverse Side of the World. His second theory being that Earth's equivalent of Tenkai ceased to exist when Velber 02, or Sefar, destroyed much of the life on Earth in 12,000 BCE that included many gods and their realms, which had ultimately led to the decline and end of the Age of Gods.

Just thinking about the Velbar Singularity makes me shiver… Shirou thought as he suppressed the memories of that time.

Before he knew it, the mountain of monster corpses disappeared as Shirou stopped pondering and snapped back into reality.

"What do you plan to do, Shirou-sama?" Lili asked as the last of the monster corpse was stored away.

"I think that enough for today," said Shirou. "Many of my goals for today has been met. There is more than enough monster corpses for me to dissect for a while. I have collected enough information about how the monsters in the dungeon look, behavior and their weak points compared to their surface counterparts."

Lili smiled happily "Whatever you say, Shirou-sama, I'm fine with."

Shirou stood up and brushed away the dust and dried on his waterproof clothing. He looked around if there were any monster corpses that he had forgotten to store away. Lili too did the same.

"We might not be far from the surface but stay sharp," said Shirou as he made his way for the 1st Floor. "Who knows if monsters might try to ambush us."

"It's not the monsters that are likely to ambush us as the 1st and 2nd Floors are unlikely to have such intelligence monsters. We should be more concerned about adventurers who kill and steal the hard work of other adventurers."

He nodded in agreement. It was not the first time that someone would wanted to have ambush him for the sake of something on his person. Shirou kept an eye on his surroundings but he was very relaxed unlike the highly alert Lili. The chances of someone escaping his notice was highly unlikely given his honed instincts and sharp senses.

"So where do you come from, Shirou-sama?" Lili asked curiously while still keeping an eye on her surroundings.

"The Land of the Rising Sun," said Shirou as he referred the Genkai equivalent of Japan, "in a town called Fuyuki. I doubt you have ever heard about it."

"Oh, the land in the East right?"

"That's right," Shirou nodded. "The most famous city being the capital, Edo."

"Which Familia do you belong to?"

His lips curled upwards. Shirou fought back the urge to laugh. If he was to go by this world's standard he would a unique existence as the only god/adventurer to exist, at least to his knowledge. It was normally impossible for someone to be both a god and an adventurer. The urge to tell the truth and witness Lili's reaction did seem like a fun idea but he suppressed his curiosity.

"I would like to keep that a secret." Shirou replied.

"Okay…" Lili said in saddened tone.

The pitiful expressions of Lili's made Shirou reconsider his decision. Her small and petite build on top of her current body language to create the image that she was distressed girl who had been delivered the news of the death of her parents. He felt the urge to do nothing more than to tell the truth.

Just as his mouth was about to move his body froze up. Memories of his time as Chaldean Master popped up. Instances where his morality and ethics were exploited to take advantage of him. The most vivid recollection he had about someone using a pitiful young girl's appearance against him was the time when someone used Illya's appearance to deceive him. His expression unconsciously hardened.

Lili sensed that her act wasn't going to work and became concerned that she touched upon a subject she shouldn't have. She didn't continue to ask about the matter and remained silent while they walked towards the 1st Floor.

Time passed as Shirou and Lili made their way to dungeon entrance. Shirou's mood improved as he realized that Lili's acting hadn't been to deceive him but to a result of her curiosity and urge to know more about him.

"Please don't be offended by my response. I just happened to recall some bad memories." Shirou said apologetically while making a mental note avoid a repeat of the same thing in the future.

"It's okay." Lili smiled.

Soon the two reached the stairs leading to the surface.

"Thank you for your work today, Lili." Shirou bowed gratefully to Lili.

Lili bowed in response and said, "It was a pleasure working with you, Shirou-sama."

"Are you by any chance free for the month?"

"Why do you ask, Shirou-sama?" Lili cocked her head.

"I got some really good vibes from you. The fact that you're hardworking and dependable only adds more reasons for me. I would like to hire you for the rest of the month, or hopefully hire you as my exclusive Supporter."

"Thank you!" Lili shouted happily as she threw herself at Shirou and hugged him. "I would love to be your exclusive Supporter!"

- O -

"This is surprising," said Shirou as he dropped the scalpel he had used into tray filled with anti-bacteria solution, took off his blooded gloves and washed his hands. "It seems that I was the right in my decision to be thorough and conduct numerous dissections…"

He reached for the data filled book and continued to write additional findings Shirou had made during the previous dissection of the goblin corpse. As Shirou continued to write away his findings, he couldn't but help praise Da Vinci, the other Servants of medical and scientific legends or the Chaldean staff for their knowledge and skill to create his Noble Phantasm, Chaldean Blessings. The current medical and scientific knowledge and skills he was currently using to dissect and research the monster corpses would have been impossible without the effects of Chaldean Blessings.

"The dungeon monsters are not a product of nature like the monsters I am familiar with from Earth. What I had read about dungeon monsters seems to be correct so far. The Orario Dungeon itself creates the monsters. An incredibly powerful skill that is normally limited to Divine Spirits… What are you exactly, Orario Dungeon?" Shirou asked as he took out another notebook he reserved for data on the Orario Dungeon.

Shirou wrote down the various ideas and findings he had made about the Orario Dungeon. While he wrote away, Shirou couldn't help but wish Da Vinci and the other intellectual Servants could be with him now. Chaldean Blessings might have given him access to knowledge and skills that Shirou never possessed in his human life but they were far cry from the unmatched brilliance of the Servants born from the medical and scientific legends of Earth's humans. If he couldn't have those Servants helping him out, he at the very least wished that he could ask them about their opinions on his findings.

He closed his notebook reserved for the Orario Dungeon and walked to the area with carefully sorted magic stones. Each magic stone neatly placed into piles that shared common characteristics with each other such as size, colour, the amount of mana stored inside among several other characteristics.

"I don't know if I should say that adventurers of this world are blessed or cursed by the existence of magic stones inside monsters…" Shirou muttered.

It could said to be a blessing as many monsters that were difficult to kill on Earth could be killed instantly or more easily by damaging the magic stones that acted as the core of a monster's existence. The existence of magic stones were a curse sometimes as tactics used on Earth's monsters to destroy vital organs such as the brain, heart and lungs were rendered useless as monster wouldn't be killed until their cores were sufficiently damaged.

He was about to grab a magic stone to study when a door opened.

"Yo, Shirou!" Hephaestus shouted happily as she entered the room. "Wa'cha doing?" The answer quickly came to Hephaestus when she saw the room. "This is why you asked for an empty warehouse? A place to store and dissect monster corpses? I thought you needed the place to create and store your weapons. If you had told me what you needed I could have a bought you are small business involved in magic stone extraction and you didn't need to gather the monster corpses and dissect them yourself."

"I'm not doing this to join the magic stone business. This is to gather data on monster biology." Shirou replied.

"If you wanted data on monster biology you could have visited other gods or their Familia specializing in the research of monster biology."

"Doing a task for yourself is different from hearing about it. Would you let someone forge something for you?"

Hephaestus shook her head. There was no way she would let anyone forge an item for her. It would go against her pride as a blacksmith. Only if it was an item she couldn't create herself would she allow someone to make the item. She started to understand Shirou's intention.

"If this is what you want to do then I will not bring up this topic again," Hephaestus crossed her arms and leaned back on the closed door. "I didn't just come here to see what you were doing. There is something I would ask you to do."

Shirou raised a brow and asked, "Which is?"

"I ask that you take my child, Welf Crozzo, under you care. It is simply a waste of his talent to not to be creating magic swords when he can as a blacksmith. What he is doing is akin to a surgeon refusing to use his eyes in surgical work because he had a traumatic experience involving his eyes. As his parent I cannot watch squander a talent that involves his passion."

"Why me though? There are many more blacksmiths skilled than me? I have the nicknames, Faker and Copycat Blacksmith, for a reason."

"There may be mortal or god blacksmiths more skilled than you but that applies to specific fields. If we are to look at every aspect of being a blacksmith, few are as capable as you in so many areas of forging." Hephaestus paused as she stared into Shirou's eyes. "Besides no blacksmith gives me the feeling that you do. I feel as if you're the only one that can help Welf overcome his trauma regarding magic swords."

"If you think I can help Welf out I more than willingly to take Welf under my care."

"Thanks. You don't owe me any my favors if you are able to help Welf overcome his trauma," said Hephaestus. "Oh. Did you hear about the juiciest gossip in town right now? Apparently a former adventurer of the disbanded Hera Familia and her nephew was spotted in town. The former adventurer is not just any regular adventurer, but it supposed to be Level 7! It is 'Silence' Aflia. The name of the cute little nephew is supposed to be Bell Cranel."